Is Thomas Markle's story of whether to attend the royal wedding a 'rollercoaster of speculation' or a cruel soap opera?

Perhaps there really was a time, long ago, when if one wanted to be informed of the activities of the royal family, one consulted the court circular. Now, of course, you go on US celebrity gossip website TMZ. And there in glaring headlines you find a story, not of family joy at a forthcoming wedding, but of pain and suffering – much of it heaped on Meghan Markle’s 73-year-old father Thomas. You could, as one newspaper has, call it “a rollercoaster of speculation surrounding whether Mr Markle would attend Saturday’s royal wedding at Windsor Castle in Berkshire”.